The Development of Legislation on the Social Economy in Continental Western Europe

One of the main instruments for local development is the regulatory legal framework of the so-called Social Economy, a term and concept that is yet to be fully defined. The society’s approach to the generation of wealth encompasses different concepts, movements, approaches, and ways of acting, all of which pose a challenge to the determination of a precise definition. Within the European Union (E.U.), a common legislative base has been developed, although the specific legislation developed by each Member State has been uneven. The legislation may have started from the same common principles, but each country has adopted different legal forms. This work aims to outline the diverse ways of legislating on a concept that is still under construction and within similar legal frameworks, illustrating the lack of harmony between European states that, despite the sharing of borders and having common legislative foundations, distance themselves in the final legislation, a situation that does not benefit the economic unity of entrepreneurs with social principles

Social economy as social science and practice : historical perspectives on France

This article aims to investigate the multiple meanings of "économie sociale" ("social economy"), a term which first appeared in France at the founding moment of modern capitalism, both as a concept in the framework for the creation of a social science in close relation with the tradition of classical, Christian and socialist economists, and also to establish an ensemble of social practices and institutions. A historical perspective shows the close yet ambivalent relationship between these two principal connotations. Stemming from this, the conclusion presents some new research orientations towards social economy as a social science and social practice.social economy ; social science ; France

Social economy as social science and practice : historical perspectives on France

This article aims to investigate the multiple meanings of "économie sociale" ("social economy"), a term which first appeared in France at the founding moment of modern capitalism, both as a concept in the framework for the creation of a social science in close relation with the tradition of classical, Christian and socialist economists, and also to establish an ensemble of social practices and institutions. A historical perspective shows the close yet ambivalent relationship between these two principal connotations. Stemming from this, the conclusion presents some new research orientations towards social economy as a social science and social practice.social economy ; social science ; France

Cooperatives' contributions to a plural economy

General introduction to the bookCooperatives;plural economy

Farm Cooperatives and the Social Economy: The Case of Spain

The term “Social Economy†is used to mean a set of organizations that share specific operational features, such as solidarity, mutual assistance, open membership, democratic management and people-based decision-making and distribution of surpluses, which depend on the activity carried out by each person irrespective of the capital invested. Farm cooperatives undoubtedly belong to this group. In recent years, Spanish farm cooperatives have been experiencing substantial business development. This process is a consequence of the latest changes in the regulations governing Spanish cooperatives. Major cooperative groups with high turnovers have developed in this positive environment. Although there are differences between countries, the European cooperative movement is a good example of the prominence that cooperatives have achieved in many sectors. Their traditional goals are changing and one of their current priorities is to meet the requirements of the CAP (Common Agricultural Policy) as regards agricultural multi-functionality. Nevertheless, the principles of this concept were already present in their own tenets. This paper aims to show the role of the cooperatives in the new social requirements, taking into account their functioning principles and the new conceptual frame they are involved in.Agribusiness,

Sticking Together Because We're Stuck Together: Solidarity, Indivisibility, and Collective Action in the European Union

Starting from the premise that popular support is increasingly a necessary condition for European Union initiatives, this paper utilizes the concept of solidarity to attempt to better specify the nature of “we feeling” in Europe and its relationship to support for institutionalized collective action through the EU. Building on the Europeanization literature’s examination of the socialization of individuals toward European norms, the paper distinguishes between shared identities and common fate, arguing that the literature has tended to privilege the former over the latter. Using recent Eurobarometer public opinion surveys, this paper explores the different measures of identity and common fate and their apparent relationship to support for collective action across a range of issue areas

Democratic corporate governance within fluctuating cooperative banks: A multidisciplinary diagnosis and proposition of orientations.

The democratic question became of an ardent actuality within cooperative banks since the end of the 1990's. Founding element of human-sized organizations that were the first mutual or cooperative Caisses, is democracy running the risk to dissolve by necessity in the mature and hybrid giants that are the big banking cooperative groups nowadays? The present article unveils a multidisciplinary synthesis made possible by the conjunction of three researchers studying cooperative banks through three complementary angles: law, economy and management. After a first inventory of the possible symptoms of the disappearance of democracy inherent to the cooperative project, a more differentiating diagnosis is proposed, followed by an outline of some working leads for a creative evolution of cooperative democracy.Democracy; bank;cooperative; pluridisciplinarity; new cooperative paradigm

Opening Anthropology: An Interview with Keith Hart at Savage Minds

This interview is part of an ongoing series about open access (OA), publishing,communication, and anthropology. The first interview in this series was with Jason Baird Jackson. The second interview was with Tom Boellstorff. The third installment of this OA series is with Keith Hart (See Part 1, Part 2,and Part 3on Savage Minds). Full text also posted onThe Memory Bank

The Social Economy: Approaches, Practices and a Proposal for a New Community-University Alliance (CURA)

This document provides an overview of selected theoretical and empirical approaches to define a research proposal for a new CURA (Community- University Research Alliance) on the social economy to be launched in 2005. The authors’ goal is also to spark the interest of researchers in the social economy. With this in mind, the first section represents an attempt to provide a theoretical and empirical framework for the social economy, drawing on complementary concepts such as the third sector, where appropriate. In the second section, we emphasize the need for an inventory of innovative practices in the field and for statistics to quantify the activities of the social economy and the resources involved. In the third section, we identify the main research directions and questions based not only on our own knowledge but also on a review of the literature. In the final section, we make some suggestions as to how the specific nature of this new program will relate to the existing CURA program.Institutional and Behavioral Economics,